Seed capital: Pacific hosts first community exchange

For most of human civilization, we couldn't hop in the car and drive to Lowe's to buy a tomato plant.

Alex Breitler

For most of human civilization, we couldn't hop in the car and drive to Lowe's to buy a tomato plant.

We planted the seeds from the previous year's crop.

And if we wanted zucchini instead, we simply swapped with our neighbors.

Such small-scale farming traditions have largely been lost, even in agriculturally rich areas like San Joaquin County. Which is why, as the sun went down on Earth Day, University of the Pacific hosted a "seed swap" of its own Tuesday.

Saving and sharing seeds helps maintain the diversity of different varieties of plants. It helps remind people where their food really comes from (hint: it's not the produce section).

And it helps to break down the fences that divide us, quite literally, from our neighbors, whose backyard gardens might have the heirloom veggies we covet - but we'll never know if we don't share.

"It's not just about the seeds," said 21-year-old Jamil Burns, an environmental science major at Pacific. "The most important part of this is bringing people together from all walks of life and allowing people to know there are other people in Stockton who enjoy doing the same thing. To me, that's refreshing."

Stockton has no formal public seed swap, though recently, a retired teacher launched a seed-lending program at Cesar Chavez Central Library. Thursday's swap outside the university's new Ted and Chris Robb Garden was Pacific's first attempt to hold a seed exchange.